


As Seen on TV

by lamentables



Category: Twitch City
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2008-04-10
Updated: 2008-04-10
Packaged: 2017-10-21 02:43:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/220009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lamentables/pseuds/lamentables
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The gift of a video camera gives Hope an unexpected insight into Curtisworld.</p>
            </blockquote>





	As Seen on TV

Hope was really excited when Newbie came round with the video camera. One of the homeless guys who hung around the market had traded it for some expired food, and no-one bothered to ask him where he'd got it from. Newbie's idea was that Curtis would enjoy using the camera to make his own TV shows. Hope's plan was a little more ambitious, and involved video diaries, documentaries and Curtis's eventual need to get out of the apartment and start filming outdoors.

For the first two weeks Curtis scorned her idea and explained, at some length, how watching TV and making TV are not the same thing at all. Then something changed and he spent the third week filming everything he did. Mostly that involved filming the TV screen, with occasional breaks to eat or go to the bathroom. Hope had to admit that the silent movie version of Curtis's life had a certain hypnotic charm. Except for the bathroom breaks which were unpleasant, even without sound effects.

Week four was the week Curtis began documenting the lives of others. With sound. Hope was late for work twice that week because it takes three times as long to get ready when you have to dress in the closet to avoid the camera. She also had to do the TV chef thing and provide a running commentary on the meals she cooked. On the whole, she was relieved that it hadn't occurred to Curtis to film them in bed together.

Hope suggested a new project for week five, People at Work. Curtis could film her at the gas station and Newbie working in the store. Curtis ignored her and moved in for a close-up of Newbie picking his nose.

When she got home to find the apartment empty, she figured Newbie had finally lured Curtis out to the store and wondered about going to join them. But first she thought she'd take a moment to enjoy having the place to herself. Maybe watch a bit of TV.

Curtis had a pile of video tapes in a box at the side of the TV, the product of his obsessive filming. Hope slid the top one into the VCR and settled down with a cup of tea.

Curtisworld was a place she only half recognised. The furniture was familiar, the TV looked the same, that girl must be her, but there was something uncomfortably alien about it too. There was a pattern, a rhythm, to the cuts between shots of the TV screen and sequences of herself doing very ordinary things, and she thought if she could understand that pattern, maybe she'd be closer to understanding Curtis. She muted the TV because the sound of her own voice was distracting.

More _Rex Reilly Show_. Throwing out the garbage. Looking through the window at the irate guy who'd been splattered when one of the garbage bags burst. Short clips of an old black and white movie. Hope brushing her hair. Newbie. Newbie reading the TV guide and pretending not to notice Curtis. _Anne of Green Gables_. Newbie's hand waving in front of the TV. Newbie standing between Curtis and the TV. Newbie yelling and waving his arms like a demented chicken. Newbie grinning. Wickedly. Newbie unbuttoning his shirt and doing a little dance. Shirt whirling around Newbie's head and flying towards the camera.

Green-tinged nothing for a moment.

Newbie again. Stroking his hands up and down his torso. Licking his lips. Rubbing a hand hard across the front of his jeans. And even without any sound Hope can hear his groan. When he pops the button on his jeans and slowly slides down the zipper she briefly considers pressing pause.

Before she can decide, there's a sudden shift of camera angle and she can see Curtis as well as Newbie. Curtis kissing Newbie. And now she knows she should stop. She shouldn't be seeing this. She should be angry. Betrayed.

She keeps watching as Curtis drops to his knees in front of Newbie. Pulls at Newbie's Pokemon boxers and holds his cock like an ice-cream, tongue poised to take a generous lick.

Hope shrieked a little when she heard the front door bang shut. She pressed at the buttons of the remote in a panic. By the time Curtis had filmed Newbie walking upstairs with another box of expired food she was sitting breathless at the table in the kitchen trying not to think about the video tape hidden in her laundry basket.

In the other room the TV showed a blank screen tuned to the empty VCR.


End file.
